The Amazing Spider #6

The Amazing Spider-man #6 is currently available exclusively at Wal-Mart with a bonus DVD about The Amazing Spider-man movie which comes out today. This is a reprint of a 1963 comic which introduced the Lizard as a villain into the Marvel universe for the very first time. The plot is pretty simple. There have been rumors of giant lizard attacks in Florida and J. Jonah Jameson dares Spiderman to defeat The Lizard. Spidy accepts the challenge and there we have our story.I should tell you that I am a huge superhero geek and Spiderman is my favorite superhero ever. That said, this comic is cheesy…like really cheesy. Don’t get me wrong, I like old comics that are kinda’ cheesy, but I don’t like when they have to literally tell you everything that is happening. “My foot! Something grabbed me from behind! Something powerful! Can’t keep my balance…It’s him! It’s the lizard!” Those are exact line from the comic. I’m not exaggerating. Some of that is ok, especially for Spider-man, because he seems to always have an inner-monolog going, but there is definitely too much in this book though. There are a couple ideas in the story that I found interesting, and a couple little things that might be cool to see in the movie, like the fact that before he when completely to the animal side, Dr. Connors decided to go to an area where he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone (it doesn’t work, but hey, it was worth a shot right?) The Lizard can mind control other reptiles, which I had no idea he could do, and with that power he is planning to create an army of super-reptiles. This plot point adds an interesting spin on the story which I enjoyed.As you might expect the artwork is fairly simple and it fits the mood well. There is some art that was added to the book later on that is magnificent, some really beautiful pictures of Spider-man and the Lizard. Sweet stuff! The comic itself is at least half the size of a regular comic, which isn’t too big of a deal for me, but be aware of that.The DVD contains some behind the scenes, a trailer, and an exclusive clip of the upcoming Spiderman movie. All of which just makes me more excited for this film (not that I needed to get any more excited.) It also contains a trailer to The Amazing Spider-man game which I believe will take place after the events of the movie. I’m pretty pumped for this game as well; it looks pretty epic.In the end, while the comic could have been better, I found it mildly enjoyable and interesting to see how this character began and I do not regret my purchase.

Spiderman Spectacular Season is in full swing at the Helix Reviews podcast! (Which basically means two episodes of completely Spiderman themed content!) The first episode is already out which contains my review of Sam Rami’s Spiderman trilogy and a layout for what I think would be an epic Spiderman series. The next one should come out on Sunday with my review of The Amazing Spider-Man!

Here is a link to stream the first Spiderman episode: http://archive.org/download/006SpidermanReviewsAndTheAmazingSpidermanHopesAndDreamsmoreLike/006SpidermanReviewsAndTheAmazingSpidermanHopesAndDreamsmoreLikeDreams.m4a

DNArington wrote:That said, this comic is cheesy…like really cheesy. Don’t get me wrong, I like old comics that are kinda’ cheesy, but I don’t like when they have to literally tell you everything that is happening. “My foot! Something grabbed me from behind! Something powerful! Can’t keep my balance…It’s him! It’s the lizard!”

I learned in a documentary once that Stan Lee used t ogive the stories to artist Steve Ditko, who then drew the entire book, and then Stan added the inner monologue and dialogue. Stan commented that Ditko's art told the story so well he didn't even need to add the dialogue. My next question would be, "Then why DID you, Stan??"